Sterile water/saline, 500 ml at Sanford Worthington Medical Center
1018 6th Ave, Worthington, MN · Sanford Health · · NPI 1396712618
$75.59
Cash price Discounted cash price What a hospital charges a self-pay patient who pays directly, without going through insurance — usually well below the gross charge. Example: A CT scan has a $3,200 gross charge but an $850 discounted cash price. Ask for it by name when scheduling — hospitals don't always advertise it up front.
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What you pay up front if you don't use insurance.
$94.48
Gross charge Gross charge (chargemaster price) The hospital's full, undiscounted list price — pulled from its internal "chargemaster" price list. Almost no one actually pays this. Example: A chest X-ray has a gross charge of $1,450. The same hospital's discounted cash price for the same X-ray is $180 — the gross charge mostly anchors negotiations, not what patients pay.
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The hospital's undiscounted list price — almost no one pays this.
$1.00 with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota vs $90.23 with Medica — same scan, same building. Share
Negotiated rates by payer
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Negotiated rate
The price a specific insurance plan agreed to pay the hospital for a service — it varies by insurer, and even by plan within the same insurer.
Example: The same knee MRI has a negotiated rate of $904 with one insurer's PPO plan and $1,509 with another's — identical hospital, identical scan.
Full explanation →
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Negotiated rate
The price a specific insurance plan agreed to pay the hospital for a service — it varies by insurer, and even by plan within the same insurer.
Example: The same knee MRI has a negotiated rate of $904 with one insurer's PPO plan and $1,509 with another's — identical hospital, identical scan.
Full explanation →Payer ?Payer The insurance company footing the bill — Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Medicare, and so on. Example: "Blue Cross Blue Shield" is the payer. Its negotiated rate for an MRI might be $904, while a different payer's negotiated rate for the same scan is $1,509. Full explanation → |
Plan ?Plan The specific product an insurer sells — e.g. "Blue Cross PPO 500" — which sets your deductible, coinsurance and negotiated rates. Example: Two people both insured by Aetna can owe very different amounts for the same MRI: $50 with an HMO plan's flat copay, or the full $1,200 toward a high-deductible PPO plan's unmet deductible. Full explanation → |
Negotiated rate | vs. cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota | Commercial/Federal | $1.00 | ↓ -99% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota | PMAP | $1.00 | ↓ -99% |
| Sanford Health Plan Align | Medicare Replacement | $4.16 | ↓ -94% |
| Ucare | Medicare Replacement | $4.47 | ↓ -94% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota | Medicare Replacement | $4.51 | ↓ -94% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Replacement | $4.51 | ↓ -94% |
| Health Partners | Medicare Replacement | $4.51 | ↓ -94% |
| Great Plains Medicare Advantage | Medicare Replacement | $4.51 | ↓ -94% |
| Aetna | Medicare Replacement | $4.51 | ↓ -94% |
| Primewest | Medicare Replacement | $4.60 | ↓ -94% |
| Sanford Health Plan | Group Health/True | $36.63 | ↓ -52% |
| Sanford Health Plan | SD Exchange True | $36.63 | ↓ -52% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota | State Employees | $42.52 | ↓ -44% |
| Sanford Health Plan | Commercial/ND Pers | $43.09 | ↓ -43% |
| Sanford Health Plan | SD Exchange Commercial | $43.09 | ↓ -43% |
| Security Health Plan | Commercial | $51.96 | ↓ -31% |
| Health Partners | State Employees | $58.20 | ↓ -23% |
| Health Partners | Commercial | $67.08 | ↓ -11% |
| Ucare | Commercial | $73.79 | ↓ -2% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $77.47 | ↑ +2% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial + Top 20 | $78.89 | ↑ +4% |
| Medica | Choice | $84.28 | ↑ +11% |
| First Choice Health Network | Commercial | $85.03 | ↑ +12% |
| Multiplan | Commercial | $85.03 | ↑ +12% |
| Healthez | Commercial | $85.03 | ↑ +12% |
| Medica | Elect | $90.23 | ↑ +19% |
| Ucare | Medicaid Managed Care | not published by hospital | — |
| Primewest | Medicaid Managed Care | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Sterile water/saline, 500 ml at other Minnesota hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanford Westbrook Hospital | Westbrook | $60.56 | $0.67 – $2.48 |
| Sanford Bagley Medical Center | Bagley | $14.00 | $4.24 – $15.75 |
| Sanford Wheaton | Wheaton | $40.00 | $7.43 – $27.64 |
| Sanford Bemidji Medical Center | Bemidji | not published | $1.02 – $4.60 |